Monday, June 28, 2010

After much prodding to read this book by a close friend, I thought I'd give it a try. And I'd say it was worth it.

For the life of me, I could not think of how to sum this book up in my own words. It was too different, much too like something I have never encountered before. Therefore, I cannot put into words what it is all about, so I'll let Goodreads handle that this time around.

"New to town, Beatrice is expecting her new best friend to be one of the girls she meets on the first day. But instead, the alphabet conspires to seat her next to Jonah, aka Ghost Boy, a quiet loner who hasn't made a new friend since third grade. Something about him, though, gets to Bea, and soon they form an unexpected friendship. It's not romance, exactly - but it's definitely love. Still, Bea can't quite dispel Jonah's gloom and doom - and as she finds out his family history, she understands why. Can Bea help Jonah? Or is he destined to vanish?"

In the first few chapters, my immediate reaction was that the dialogue seemed a little fishy. Especially between Bea and her mom, I was just left wondering if people actually spoke this way. Her mom seemed childish and annoying, sometimes odd; something very uncommon. Unrealistic. Questionable. Irrational.

Some of the characters, again parents, didn't seem fully developed, which made me wonder what kind of relationship the author had with her own.

But once I actually got into this, I was swept away and living in my own little world with Bea and Jonah. Definitely not the conventional love story, this novel with make your heart ache until the very last word. In fact, the ending gave me a feeling that was both unsettling and satisfied. That doesn't happen often.

I loved Jonah. He seemed pretty rounded, especially towards the middle of the book (not so much in the beginning). The descriptions of this boy made me feel as though I could go to school this fall and see him sitting next to me. His family issues and inability to wholly get over some things made him seem even more so.

Although there did seem to be some missing pieces, I got over that quickly. It's hard for me to even wrap my mind around the relationship between Jonah and Bea. I was left questioning why these people did what they did and said what they said.

It's new and fresh, something that doesn't come along all too often.

The plot itself is new. It's not so much one big event as it is a story of life in general. And I think that's what I liked most about it, and why I couldn't sum it up in my own words. It's life for one person in one time, and a significant even that changed her from then on.

Although I'm still not 100% sure how you actually say goodbye in robot, pick this one up for yourself and let me know your thoughts on how to say goodbye.